Piper's Out of Paper
by Shaingel.sle
Summary: This fic kind of continues from my last one, but I felt like this one needed its own series of chapters (which means, yes, I will continue this one with another chapter or two). Piper's writer's block is going to kill her...maybe even literally. On a trip to Diamond City to take a break from her paper, Piper runs into some serious trouble from the past.
1. Chapter 1

Piper Wright threw yet another paper ball across the room, not caring that she missed the steel wastebasket that Blue kindly built for her. Piper's cabin was one of the very few that had a personal trashcan, since it used up so much steel to make them. Blue was adamant on giving Piper one, though, since she was starting to see the physical representation in Piper's creative block through the sea of wadded up paper balls she'd started filling her cabin with.

Piper groaned, sitting at her desk and rubbing her temples. She was out of paper again, and Blue's next errand day wasn't for another five days, when she could have the time to find more paper. Piper would have to go to Diamond City herself to find some paper, though she was sure that Nat was out by now, too. She groaned again, a headache building.

"Hey, Piper," MacCready's voice sounded through the thin steel walls of Piper's cabin. "You alright in there?"

Piper stood up to open the front door, which was next to her desk. "Hey, Mac." She greeted with less than her usual snide.

MacCready walked in the small building, carrying two green ammunition boxes. "One of these is yours," he said, "but I don't really feel like looking through to see which."

Piper smiled a bit at MacCready's teasing. She grabbed them both and put them on her desk. "I'm glad you're here, Mac." She unlatched one and began digging through it, determining which container contained the cases she needed for her weapons of choice.

"Whoa," MacCready said. "Something really is wrong if you're willing to say that without Nora making you." Piper stayed silent, but smiled again. "What's goin' on, Pipes?"

Piper sighed. She decided which box was hers, and set the other one on the ground. "I don't know, Mac. I haven't written a damn thing since Blue had me settle here. She decided I should go back to reporting for one of her towns but I just can't get anything out there! Nothing is happening, and if something is, it's already been reported by Mister Travis 'lonely' Miles." Piper sighed again. "Nobody just cares about the paper anymore, Mac."

Piper joined MacCready in her old, dirty bed and pouted. "I'm out of paper, anyway."

"Do you want to make a run to Diamond City?" MacCready suggested.

Piper thought for a second. It's been a while since she'd been anyway, she may as well go now. "Yeah, I guess I will." Piper concluded. "But I think I'm going to go alone."

MacCready nodded. "Yeah, sounds good. I'm pretty tired anyway. You would not believe the night I had…with Nora…" MacCready turned to grim at Piper, whose mouth was wide open with shock. She punched him in the arm.

"Mac you sly dog." She giggled. "I'm glad, though. Blue needs someone like you to take care of her." MacCready smiled and blushed. The two got up from the bed and said goodbyes. Piper then began making rounds around her cabin, double and triple checking to make sure she had everything she needed. While the trip was only a third of a day's walk, you really can never be sure in the Commonwealth.

Piper locked her cabin door and walked out the front of her town. As she walked across the settlement, she saw people doing their jobs, taking breaks, talking with each other, waving to Piper as she left. She couldn't really complain about living in a town like this, a town where no one was really significant and everybody did their jobs. She just wished _something_ would happen, or else she believed she would die of writer's block. Her passion was about delivering the truth, and while the slow diminishment of the mutated carrots in the garden was truthful, it wasn't exactly life changing.

She decided, however, that this travel time was going to be a break for her, from her desk and from her nonexistent newspaper. She was going to go home and see Nat and then come back refreshed and ready to write.

Piper walked, not noticing the two stalkers at her heels, hiding at a distance behind dead shrubbery and piles of rubble. She had only walked five miles from Starlight when she was shot in the leg and collapsed on the worn road.

"Dammit!" She screamed, searching desperately for her pistol that she dropped on the ground. "Who the hell—AHH!"

The two raiders stood above Piper. "What the fuck d'you do that for?" One of them screamed.

The other frantically explained, "I don't know, man! She was looking for her pistol, and I didn't want anybody in that town to hear her screaming, so I knocked her out! I panicked!"

The first raider groaned and shook his head, staring at the unconscious journalist on the ground. His hair was in a Mohawk that it was too long for, so the hairstyle simply flopped back and forth as he moved his head. He brought his right hand to his temples, his left resting on his hip. Both hands were covered in spikes on the knuckles, matching the spiked pauldrons on his shoulders. "You better hope you didn't fuck her up, else Zodiac's gonna have our heads."

The second raider scratched his head with his leather-protected hand. His armor wasn't as intense as his friend's, since he preferred lighter armor and stealth. His hand rested on his buzzed head as he stared at the dame they were in charge of capturing, wondering how royally he'd messed up this time. "What do we do, Ace?"

Ace ignored him, inhaling several large hits of Jet. He breathed slowly, staring at the Commonwealth's afternoon sky and smiled after a minute. He looked back at his partner and scowled again. "You drag her body back to the base, what the hell else do you think we can do?" He breathed a few more hits of his Jet and threw the inhaler wherever. He started walking. "Let's go, Pan, before it gets to sunset."

Pan clumsily hauled Piper onto his shoulders and walked hastily to catch up with Ace. Their base was just on the border of the Boston Commonwealth and the rest of the American Wasteland. From where they'd seized the journalist, the walk back to their gang was merely a few hours, but in the wasteland heat and the deadweight of the girl on his back, Pan severely hindered the pair's speed. Ace did nothing to help his partner, just continually took hits of Jet and Buffout. The sun was just starting to set when the pair arrived at the camp.

Pan half placed, half threw Piper onto a designated platform Zodiac had in a corner just for Piper. Pan and Ace still didn't know the significance of this girl, and why their leader wanted her so badly, but they knew asking questions was pointless, and Ace never turned down a reward of copious amounts of Psycho.

"What if she doesn't wake up, man?" Pan asked nervously as his friend dug through his backpack for something.

"Then you guys are fucked, and the rest of us will try to pretend to miss you." A woman's voice said from the other side of the room. Pan looked at her and rolled his eyes as she put out her cigarette and stood up to walk to her fellow raiders. "In that case, we can only hope she doesn't wake up."

"Shut up, Poly, this isn't the time for your damn jokes."

Poly laughed. "Whoa, now, Pan, watch your language." She stood authoritatively and sobered up as her eyes laid on Piper. "What does Zodiac even want from this bitch, huh? Are the random stray wanderers he rapes and kills not enough to satisfy him?"

"You jealous he's done with you, Poly Pocket?" Ace teased.

Poly scowled at the junkie. "Zodiac may play with other women, but who does he come back to bed to, huh?"

Ace rolled his eyes, still digging in his backpack. "Dammit," he growled. "I'm outta Jet. Pan, if you cost me this job because of your little panic with the girl I'm going to kill you after Zodiac does."

Piper stirred then, causing all three raiders to instantly pay attention to her. Her head rolled, and she groaned in pain. Her eyes opened to see the three raiders staring at her, and she jumped, trying to run away as she screamed, but her efforts failed as the chains around her feet pulled her back. Similar chains held her wrists behind her back, making escape impossible.

"Let me go, you sons of-"

A gunshot silenced Piper, making her whimper and cringe as she anticipated pain. When nothing happened, she opened her eyes to the same three raiders, except the female had a pistol aimed at Piper. She slowly walked up to Piper and crouched down so that the journalist could almost taste her dirty, pink hair. "I don't know what Zodiac has planned for you," she whispered, "but know that you won't be here for long."

Ace scoffed. "Chill _out_ , Poly Pocket. You think that every woman that comes here is here to replace you." He rolled his eyes. "I don't give a fuck why Zodiac wants her, I just want to know when he's gonna be here so I can get my stash and leave."

Piper watched each raider carefully, wondering who this person called Zodiac was, and why any raider wanted her to begin with. She heard footsteps then, slow and heavy footsteps, coming from somewhere down the dark hallway. A man emerged in the doorway, a tall and dark man wearing some serious combat armor. His skin matched the color of what Piper imagined pre-war coffee looked like, from what Blue told her, and he had a large, jagged pink scar that ran through his left eye, or eye socket, since there was no eye. He looked around the room menacingly, and smiled a sinister grin when his gaze reached Piper.

"You would not believe how long it has taken for me to find you." He said in a low, gravelly voice as he walked over to his captive. He chuckled as his hand traced her jawline, then lightly squeezed her small neck. Piper's heart raced and she held her breath, terrified of what was going to happen.

The man stood up from crouching in front of Piper. "Here," he said to the raider with the mohawk as he tossed him a small burlap bag. He grinned and left the room. The quiet one followed. The man looked around for anyone else, shocked to see the woman standing so close to him. "Poly," he addressed her, "what the hell are you doing here?"

Poly blushed slightly, but regained her confident, authoritative stance. "I came to aid you with this captive, darling."

The man looked angered at this. "You have no fucking business with this bitch."

Poly returned the anger with confusion and hurt. "You son of a bitch," she said, looking back and forth between the man and Piper. "You can't just replace me, treat me like one of the others. I was your first, goddammit!"

The man slapped Poly, hard enough for her to fall to the ground. "You son of a bitch!" she screamed again, earning her a kick in the head from the man's steal boot.

"Get the fuck out of here, Poly!" the man yelled at her. Poly glared at the man through a now blackened eye. She said nothing else as she left the room scowling. The man returned his attention to Piper, acting as if that scene didn't just happen.

"So…," Piper said, fearful of what was going to happen now that she was alone with him. "I guess you're Zodiac." She let out a tiny nervous laugh.

Zodiac glared at her, the grinned the same sinister grin as before. "And you…you are Piper Wright. And you are finally here in front of me after so long of hunting your ass down." Zodiac got close enough to Piper's face that she could smell his rotten breath. "I'm about to get my fucking revenge."

Piper held her breath, unsure of what the raider was talking about. "Re…revenge? On me?" Who had she pissed off now?

"Yes, Piper Wright. You cost me and my raiders what would have been the most successful raider camp in the Boston Commonwealth. Because of you, my people have had to hide out in old metro tunnels and makeshift forts in abandoned alleyways."

"Look," Piper could feel her heart racing, sure she was going to have a heart attack if this man didn't kill her before then, "you have the wrong person. I have no idea what you're talking about, so if you could please let me go—"

"LIES!" Zodiac screamed, startling Piper and making her whimper like a dog. "You had the whole town stage mutiny on that Mayburn, I lost the whole goddamn city because of you!"

"Mayburn? What the hell are you-?" Piper stopped. Captain Mayburn, the mayor of the city she and her sister lived in when they were younger. Mayburn, the man who killed her father, the one who agreed to let a band of raiders pillage the town they all lived in. "Wait, you worked for Mayburn?"

"That motherfucker worked for me," Zodiac corrected. "But you had him exiled, you led the mutiny on that mayor, you encouraged that fucking town to drive off my team. If it weren't for you, Piper Wright, the Boston Commonwealth would belong to Zodiac's raiders."

Piper held her breath, not knowing what to say next. She was going to die, she knew it. She knew it was going to happen eventually, especially with the kind of work she did for her newspaper. She found it poetic, honestly, that the reason she ever started writing would be the same reason she died. "Ok," she said finally, at peace with the fact that the last time she saw Nat she had grounded her. "Get your revenge. Go ahead and kill me." She closed her eyes and braced herself for the pain. She'd seen how raiders decorated their hideouts, and now she was wondering how painful the actual process was.

"Oh, Princess," Zodiac cooed. "I'm not going to kill you." Piper opened her eyes at these words, confused and terrified. "What do you take me for, some kind of lowly raider?" He walked around and grinned. "Nah, honey. That would be too easy, for me _and_ for you. No, ma'am. You, my dear, are going to live for me from now on." Still grinning, he brought his face close to Piper's, feeling her shaky and scared breathing, loving how terrified she was and wondering how loud she could scream. "And I know the first thing I'm gonna have you do."


	2. Chapter 2

Zodiac dropped another empty Gwinnett bottle on the concrete of the metro tunnel. It was small, his metro tunnel, and gross and cramped. He hated it. He hated it so much, especially knowing he once had a chance to claim a bigger spot for him and his people, a whole town for them to operate from. But he and his team of raiders were stuck in this godforsaken tunnel like raider fledglings too coward to stake their own claim. He was sick of it.

"Hey!" Zodiac called sluggishly, beckoning the nearest raider to him. The raider ran up to him; Zodiac couldn't tell who he was through his drunken haze. He didn't care, though. He didn't need to see or know who he was to assign him a task. "Get another fucking team down to that town. Report back to me in half a week." Zodiac stumbled up from where he was sitting. He felt angry. So fucking angry, and getting more and more pissed the longer nothing was happening in that moment. The raider ran off, but Zodiac didn't care about him. He was mad at one specific person, and he was more than happy to let her know how pissed he was.

He stormed into the room he held his captive in, breaking the weak wooden door that separated her room from the rest of the tunnel. One of his raiders was sitting next to the girl's platform, watching her to make sure she wouldn't leave. "Get the fuck out." Zodiac said firmly and loudly to the obedient raider. The raider nodded, grabbed his bag from behind his chair and left. Zodiac stormed over to the girl, the fucking girl that cost him that goddamn town, and slapped her across the face before she could make some smart-ass remark that Zodiac wouldn't understand. She gasped and fell back.

Zodiac liked that. It made him feel better. He smacked her again, and again, until she was no longer shocked at his hits and her face was red. He wouldn't stand for that, he needed to hear her pain. He grabbed her skinny little neck in his massive hand and slammed her against the concrete wall behind her. She grunted, then yelped as her skull connected with the stone.

Still not satisfied, he threw her back onto the wooden platform, until finally she screamed. She screamed, almost cautiously at first, until she was screaming for her life, for help, for someone to save her from this beating.

At the end of the tunnel, Pan winced with each scream the poor journalist retched. "He's gonna kill her."

Ace breathed in deeply, sucking up the last bit of Jet from the bright red inhaler. "Doubt it." He tossed the empty plastic aside and smiled up at the ceiling. "Dude's a fucking mess, though."

"He's gonna kill her." Pan said again.

Ace just kept staring at the ceiling. He wanted to see stars, millions and billions of them above him, wanting to name each one until he fell asleep. Instead, his eyes were met with the dark concrete of the tunnel ceiling. He pouted and reached for his sack, remembering something. "Look, dude, I made something the other day."

Pan rolled his eyes.

Poly glared at Ace, sitting in a folding chair opposite the duo. Ace looked at her as if to ask "What?"

"I used to be Zodiac's play thing." She said, venom in her words.

Ace rolled his eyes. "This again?" he tossed his pharmaceutical creation back in his bag. "You can't seriously be saying you want that to be you getting fucked up in there?"

Poly shrugged. "We all have our vices. Yours is drugs, Pan's is doing it in the ass, and I just so happen to like almost dying. What can I say?" she smiled weirdly and whispered, "It's a rush."

Ace looked at Pan, eyebrows furrowed. "I thought you liked pussy, dude?"

Pan shrugged. "I like anything, really."

The three quieted as they heard Zodiac moan. "Gross." Ace whispered.

Zodiac removed his layers of pants until he was nude from the waist down. Piper stared in horror at his strong, erect penis. It wasn't the first time she'd seen it, but it still shocked her every single time she did. Zodiac stumbled over, reeking of stale beer and sweat. He placed the tip of himself on her lips, which were closed tightly, though she knew her efforts were pointless. He squeezed her neck, making Piper open her mouth so that he could shove himself into her. She gagged, nearly vomiting. He pumped once, and a second time, but the third time Piper bit as hard as she could in the middle of his shaft. He pulled back and screamed, making it worse as Piper never released her chomp. Zodiac slammed backward to the other side of the tunnel and swore drunken words.

Poly emerged in the doorway, a small smirk on her face. She looked at her drunken leader. "Six months of this shit, and you still haven't iced her yet." She turned to Piper, her smile fading. "Must be somethin' special."

Piper's heart was pumping, knowing full well she would have to pay for doing that. Six months? She was sure it was closer to an eternity since she'd been locked down here. She'd gone pale from not having seen the sun in, apparently, six months, which only made her bruises and cuts easier to see. Not that it really mattered, since she clearly wasn't going anywhere any time soon. She smelled of piss in her burlap rags Zodiac made her wear, since half the time people wouldn't let her get a bathroom break, and she could feel herself physically getting weaker the longer she stayed chained to the platform.

Zodiac squirmed on the other side of the tunnel. "You," Zodiac pointed to Poly. "Get the dumb one, the faggot." Zodiac stood up, acting sober. "It's his watch."

Poly rolled her eyes and went to get her partner. Zodiac glared at Piper and pulled on his clothes. He stormed past Pan to his chambers, just wanting another beer.

He didn't like fucking the girl, he really didn't. She was too squirmy and annoying and she talked too much. But beating her…it was almost the same release. Zodiac felt so turned on when she screamed, hearing her body smack against a surface, seeing blood or bruises or black eyes. God, he loved it, it was so relieving to him, orgasmic, almost...

And then she bit his dick. Humiliated him in front of Poly.

Poly. That insecure attention whore. He'd never beaten her before. And she'd probably do anything to get Zodiac's attention.

Zodiac picked up Poly by the arm from where she was sitting at the end of the hall in front of the room he kept the girl in. Poly tripped and stumbled, but caught up with him. She smiled a little as Zodiac shoved her into his room and closed the door behind him.

Pan sat in the chair next to Piper's platform and looked at her. This beating was definitely worse than usual, drunk or sober. Her eyes were black and one of her cheeks were swollen. Her neck had several different finger marks on it, and the back of her skull had a massive gash that was soaking her hair with blood. Pan looked out the door to make sure Ace wasn't looking, not that he would, then reached into his bag for an old shirt. He tossed it at Piper, who gently pressed it to the back of her head.

Piper liked Pan. As much as you could like a shy raider. He gave her bathroom breaks when she needed it, and he didn't point a gun at her every time she moved. He was also the only person who was willing to change her burlap.

She winced as the cloth touched her open wound. She was just now feeling the pain of Zodiac tossing her around, feeling how sore pretty much every bone in her body felt. Without her permission, tears began rolling down her bruised face. "What does he want from me?" she asked out loud, not really expecting an answer.

Pan sat, his arms crossed, not being able to look at Piper. She knew the answer…kind of. She knew he was mad because she saved the town from not being taken over by his raiders. But what did keeping her prisoner do to change that?

She wanted to go home. She missed Blue, she missed MacCready.

God, she missed Nat. That was the worst thing to come out of all this. Knowing Nat had no clue what happened to her sister, her caretaker, the only family she has. There was a chance that neither Piper nor Nat would have closure about the other.

She was safe, though, Piper decided. Nat was so small when the town was saved, the raiders probably have no idea that she existed. Not that Nat had anything to do with it anyway, but you really can't tell with raiders.

Pan got out a knife and began polishing it with another piece of cloth.

"That's a nice blade." Piper commented, staring at its piercing tip.

"Thanks," Pan said. "I, uh, I found it when I was grave digging. There was an old note with it, like, really, really old. Like maybe a thousand years. There were also some bars of copper, gold, and steel in the coffin, too. Took those and bought Ace some Jet and myself some Buffout. I like to think Buffout makes me not as weak as everyone thinks I am, but I don't like to use it often."

Piper smiled softly and non-comital, hanging onto the word steel. She thought of her steel waste basket Blue'd made for her back in Starlight. Steel was so precious to Blue, she'd save it to build houses and beds for newcomers in town. And she'd wasted steel on someone who got herself locked up in a raider camp.

"Pan?" Piper said softly. Pan looked at her attentively. "Don't take this the wrong way, but, you don't really seem like a raider."

Pan smiled a bit. Then his face grew dark. "You don't know what you're talking about."

Piper looked at him as he continued polishing his blade. "Alright, then." Piper finally said and placed herself in as comfortable a position as she could on the other side of the platform. She thought of Nat and her future as her eyes fluttered closed and she passed out on the splintery wood platform, laying her head on the now bloodied shirt.

Days later, Zodiac was in the central part of their tunnel complex, looking for the tiny one he'd sent off on a task. Finally he found him, walking into the area. Zodiac walked up to him, curious and almost eager, but remaining stoic on the outside.

The two met, standing in front of each other. Zodiac broke the short silence with the question, "Is everything arranged?"

The raider stared harshly, then cracked a smile. "Everything's ready, and nobody suspects anything."

Zodiac smirked, then handed the raider a bag of goodies. He marched to his captive's room, careful not to break the new door, but still firm. He looked at the girl, nearly grinning with glee. "I'm about to cash in on that revenge, Princess."


	3. Chapter 3

Zodiac dragged Piper by her shackles. They walked for what felt like forever, Piper in pain from almost never walking for 6 months. She was surrounded by raiders, none of which were Pan. Piper knew he and a few other raiders had been sent a day or two before to the destination for whatever reason.

Whatever reason it was, though, it definitely wasn't good. Piper knew where they were going, where she was being dragged to: outside the Commonwealth, to the town she once called home.

Her chains clinked together as she half walked, was half dragged by Zodiac. She wasn't sure how long they had been walking, as she would randomly pass out every so often and have to be carried by the junkie raider. She was sure they weren't far, though, and her thoughts were confirmed when she spotted a few small groups of Zodiac's clan scattered on the horizon. When they were close enough, one of them ran up to the leader.

"Everything is planted. And we were undetected. So everything is ready."

A small, creepy smile broke on Zodiac's sweaty face. "Then make sure you aren't anywhere near when the time comes."

The raider stared at him knowingly, then glanced at Piper before running back to his group. Zodiac and Piper and the group accompanying them kept walking forward, Piper's chains clinking and clanging and Zodiac stomping in his unfinished Power Armor. He had a torso and a right arm and left leg, but the frame was exposed on his right leg and left arm. In place of any type of helmet, he'd used cage armor instead. Piper wished she knew what kind of Power Armor pieces he was wearing. Blue would know, she was good with Power Armor for some reason.

The group walked without speaking for another half hour before they finally reached the big blue gates of Piper's childhood home. She stood there wondering if it would be the same inside, or entirely different. She would find out soon enough, as the gates opened and raiders flooded any exit for the townspeople.

The town was small, definitely not opting for expansion in the years since Piper left with her sister. It wasn't really in a crater, but it was definitely in a depression in the ground that was almost perfectly round. The center of the town held the "city hall," where the mayor lived and operated from in a tall building on top of a mound with an old torn up flag from before the war. Houses and stores and other buildings were all built facing the city hall in a circle with no buildings in front of or behind another building. Very empty looking, very small, very systematic.

Exactly as Piper had remembered it.

Which was why it would be so much harder to watch Zodiac do whatever he was going to do to it.

The residents of the town all turned toward the big blue gate where the raiders stood, confused. When they realized their intruders, almost all of them ran into the buildings at the edge of the tiny town. Zodiac smirked and walked into the town, raiders closing the gate behind them. He stood in front of the city hall, examining it patiently.

"Years ago, Princess," he addressed Piper, "this shitty town could have been mine." He watched as a few civilians nervously walked out of the buildings with firearms and weapons. "But now, it's going to be ours."

He smiled and leaned in to kiss her, but she spit in his face. He in turn wiped his face and slapped her. She was used to it at this point, but she was beginning to lose energy in fighting back, especially being here where she was fully aware that everybody that she knew was going to die.

"Piper?" A scared voice from a building on Piper's left asked. Piper looked to find who called her name, recognizing Mrs. Collins. The blond woman began crying quietly at the sight of Piper, who she used to teach, being chained and starved and imprisoned. "This is our fault, isn't it?" She asked.

Piper opened her mouth to say something. She hesitated, ready to feel Zodiac's metal-protected hand sting her cheek again. But he hadn't moved. He wasn't going to hit her. He was going to torture her like this. Piper opened her mouth again, and spoke slowly and weakly. "No, Mrs. Collins. This is not your fault. It's poetry." Piper laughed to herself at her own reference. She always found this poetic, that what started her journalism career is what would end it. She just never thought it would actually be in the place that it had started.

Mrs. Collins took a cautionary step forward, and Zodiac watched carefully. "You've gone insane, dear." Her voice dropped to a whisper. "This is all our fault."

Other neighbors had surrounded the center of town now, staring at the deprived girl some of them used to know. Piper suddenly felt embarrassed, an emotion she'd forgotten existed. Barely being able to stand in chains and rags in front of people she used to know, used to live with, as a result of her own actions was _embarrassing_.

When all of the citizens of the city were cautiously crowding around the scene of the nearly dead girl at the arm of a raider veteran, Zodiac spoke. "I'm giving the citizens of this town one chance. You have one chance to exit this city through any of the three gates that surround it. You have one minute to leave. Or," Zodiac smiled, "you may choose to stay."

Nobody moved for five seconds, then several people burst into a dead sprint for their nearest exit. Other people tried shooting at Zodiac, but they were quickly killed by Zodiac's guardians. Thirty seconds passed and Mrs. Collins remained standing, staring at Piper with tears in her eyes. Finally, Piper encouraged her old teacher to run with the rest of the city, to give up and go start anew.

Forty –five seconds passed, and most of the town had evacuated. Piper's heart fluttered for a moment. Zodiac got his town, and he gave Piper's old neighbors the chance to leave. Which made sense; why blow up the town you want control of?

Fifty-seconds passed. The last person ran out of the city, and Piper could almost smile. Zodiac gave them a chance. Fifty-five, fifty-six, fifty-seven…

The whole minute hadn't even finished when the first explosion occurred. Piper's heart dropped as a second and third mushroom cloud filled the air a short but reasonable distance away from the town. The detonation was deafening, and Piper watched each explosion as tears fell down her face. They were in every direction, with no possible escape for anybody. They never had a chance. Zodiac was a dick.

Piper collapsed on the ground, screaming. Zodiac stood and waited for the mourning journalist to cease her cries. It wasn't until the sun was down and the stars had risen that Piper's sobs had quieted to sniffles. Zodiac said nothing as he grabbed her by the shackles and dragged her into the city hall. He shoved her into a corner as his usual group of raiders followed him: the junkie, Pan, and the girl with pink hair.

Zodiac faced away from his group and smiled, exhaling happily. "Ace, Pan, you look after the girl for a few days. Give her more food than usual, maybe bathe her a few times. It's some pre-war tradition that I don't see her before the ceremony."

Piper whimpered in the corner, only half listening to what her kidnapper was saying. She didn't care. She didn't care about anything anymore. A whole town of people that she knew just died because of her. And she was still alive, and she didn't want to be anymore. She began sobbing again, but the squad of raiders weren't paying attention to her. Two of them picked her up, Pan and the junkie. Together they dragged her to a now empty house, what used to be general store run by a guy named Sheong. She continued sobbing as the two raiders clamored about in the store.

After Pan and Ace removed his Princess from the city hall, Zodiac turned to Poly. "Poly," he said to her, "you'll be in charge of the dress." He was nearly grinning with glee.

Poly looked at him, disgusted. "What?" she asked softly, offended.

Zodiac looked confused. "What do you mean, 'what'?"

"You want me to make a wedding dress…for someone else?"

"Well, yeah. That's what I said."

Poly looked hurt, shocked, almost. Zodiac laughed. "Oh, Poly." He said condescendingly, playing with a strand of her pink hair. "If you're worried I'm going to stop playing your little game, I won't," his face darkened. "So long as you don't stop playing mine."

Poly glared at him, then turned and stormed out of the city hall.

The next day, Pan and Ace were sitting in the biggest room of the old store, what would have been the actual store part, with Piper slumped in a corner. Next to her sat a dented, aluminum tray with a hefty portion of mutilated, but untouched chunk of mole rat meat. Ace stared at her, absent-mindedly holding an empty red inhaler and staring slightly worriedly at the limp body in front of him.

"She's not fucking eating, Pan." He finally said to his friend that was pacing behind the chair Ace sat in. Pan was biting his dirty fingernails, more noticeably worried than the junkie raider.

Pan kept pacing. "When did you care about her well-being?" He hissed.

Ace scowled. "Since our psychopathic leader decided I'm 50% responsible for her now." He stood up, forcibly shoving the chair against the wall and tossing the inhaler anywhere. "She needs to fuckin' eat, dude."

Pan threw his arms in the air. "What the hell do you want me to do about it, man?"

"Woah, there, Pan." Poly said from her own corner on the other side of the room. "Watch your language." Her voice was thick with venom, her face hooded with very clear contempt. She had a large clump of various shades of white fabric on her lap, some swatches on the floor around her. Piles of rusty bobby pins and random spools of mismatching thread lay on another chair next to her, and she was sloppily stitching fabrics together and angrily glaring at the boys.

Ace smirked, despite his stress. "What's wrong, Poly Pocket? Daddy wants you laboring for his new princess?"

Poly said nothing, just glared at Ace. She turned her focus back to the dress.

"Feed her." Ace said.

Pan smirked. "I'm not doing that, bro."

"Why the fuck not? She likes you more."

Pan shrugged. "I've got a cut on my finger. Don't want to make her sick by having her drink my blood."

Ace glared at his friend. Without saying anything, he turned to the miserable girl and looked at her. She was so pale, and so skinny. The burlap rags she wore hardly fit, they were constantly falling off her shoulders and exposing her collar bone which was pretty much about to break through her thin skin. He slowly walked to her and crouched down, slowly reaching for the tray so as not to startle the prisoner.

"Hey," he said softly, cautiously. "You haven't eaten since yesterday morning. Maybe you should try a bite of this before it gets cold." He grabbed a morsel of the meat. Piper glared at him. He continued anyway, slowly bringing the food to Piper's lips, almost on her tongue when—

"Gah! Fuck!" Ace grit his teeth and grabbed his finger, which was bleeding from the teeth shaped gashes on it. Piper spit the small bit of food in her mouth at Ace's face. He raised his arm as if to slap her, and Piper stared at him, daring him to do it. He stared back for a second, then lowered his arm and walked over to Pan.

"She's starving herself, man. She's going to die before the wedding." Ace said to him.

"Yeah, that's her goal." Pan looked at the poor girl in the corner.

"Watch your boner, Pansy." Poly called from the corner, smirking. "Zodiac'll have you thrown in the ring for pining."

Pan smirked. "When'd he ever throw any of your boyfriends in the ring for fucking you?"

Poly gasped, and stared at him with her mouth wide opened. Pan shrugged and walked over to Piper. He crouched down in front of her. Her face was so thin, her cheekbones shadowing her cheeks. Her hair was wispy and thin and dull from not eating, and her wrists were knobby and bony. She was torturing herself after months of Zodiac torturing her.

"You don't deserve this." Pan whispered to the scowling girl. He grabbed a bit of the meat on the ground next to her. "The shackles, the pain, none of it."

Piper stared at him. "What are you doing?"

"What will it take for you to eat this?"

Piper kept staring, not saying anything. "You kidding me? You're asking what I want? I want out of this hell. That's what I want."

Pan looked at her with pain in his eyes. "I can't –"

"You don't deserve this, either." Piper whispered. Ace rolled his eyes and took out another inhaler from his sack. "This isn't you, Pan. You aren't a raider."

A few breaths passed of silence. "Eat the damn rat." Pan said loudly, angrily, startling Piper. Poly smirked, still stitching. Piper stared at Pan, confused.

"Will you get me out of here?" She practically mouthed.

Pan sighed. "Eat this and I'll see what I can do."

Piper squinted at him, but cautiously took the meat from his hand. She ate it slowly, not letting anyone know that she wanted more to eat. Pan watched silently, knowing she loved it. He stood up and walked back to Ace. "Go get some more for her." Ace nodded grimly, staring at the girl.

When Ace came back, Piper had only eaten half of the mole rat. He handed Pan another whole cooked one. "Don't ask me for any other help than that." Ace looked his friend in the eyes, making sure they knew they were on the same level. "I happen to like what I do."

Poly snorted from her corner. "Pan you're gonna fuck up big time."

"What, are you gonna snitch?"

"Fuck no. I want that bitch the fuck out of here. Just don't touch Zodiac and I won't say a damn thing."

Pan smirked. "Fine, whatever."


End file.
